Sunday, April 30, 2017

Bandhavgarh, India 2017 Part One.

My last visit was in 2015 and things are changing rapidly. Back then about 95% of visitors were
westerners, by looking at the lines of Gypsies waiting to enter the park; my
estimate is that 70% are locals now; there may be seasonal variations but I was
here at the same time in previous years.
Fourteen vehicles per day per park entry gate were allowed in the past;
now there are 20. More tourists, more demand, more money. India is a very
bureaucratic country and every day during each entry to the park, there is a
protocol to repeat.

Previously there was only one waiting line at the gates
where the passports/tickets were checked and the escort ranger assigned. Now, one must go to a separate office to get
the ranger, then drive to the gate and wait again for the paperwork to be
processed. There are different trails at
the different gates to the park, and these are labeled a, b, c, d, etc. When a particular vehicle gets its entry
paperwork, a trail is assigned…and if you are lucky you may get for example
trail c assigned every time; unless one protest that may not ensure a
change. I do not believe it is
intentionally but it happens. Another rule, that if you are in a group, each
person is specifically assigned by name to a vehicle for the length of the
visit, and not allowed to change unless one pays a charge of $50.

Now during the middle of the game drive, the drivers are forced to
check at a pre-determined hour at what is called the Rest Area. The drivers had to have their papers signed
to prove compliance with the rules. At
the site entrepreneurs have established shops where one can get souvenirs, food
and drinks, and a latrine stop for which one is charged 5 rupees. If you are a driver or a guide, you just walk
behind the tarpaulin enclosed facilities and do your business. This check stop takes from the drive since no
matter where in the park you are, one have to drive there and then there is a
15-20 minutes of idling time, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. In the olden days, one just got out of the
Gypsy and took care of the call of nature while having the thrill of been eaten
by a tiger. The Ecotourism excuse for this rule is that the human scent
disturbed the animals.

Other recent change is of allowing elephant ride rentals by
the hour for about $30/rider, in the past, the elephants could only be rented
by the day for $350. It appears that the
management was not getting enough day rentals so the change to the hourly
rental was implemented this year, a good business decision; but not for the
elephants, now they have to work harder.
In the second image below, 6 clients boarding the elephant…times $30 it comes
to $180/hour profit and there was a line of waiting costumers. One advantage of
riding an elephant is that you are assured of tiger sightings--- no excuse not to
get great shots. Transfers from the Gypsies to the elephants are made at
prescribed locations within the park depending as to where the tigers are.

Tiger sightings are not as common as they used to be; this is
due to a new policy that no iPhones are allowed in the park. In the past, when a tiger was sighted, the
guides were notified and a rush of vehicles to the sighting began, the trails became
a racetrack to get to the tiger, it was dangerous. During a previous visit, my companion was thrown
out of the vehicle and I did not even notice, when I turned, he was not there
and looking back, he was in the side of the road dusting his hat but fortunately,
only his ego was hurt. This was a good
decision in the part of the park management.
Tiger sightings are random one may go a whole day and see nothing. Other
times; we had a day when we saw 12 tigers that included a family of four. The old female tiger called “One-Eyed” that I
had photographed during previous visits, died in 2015; like losing a friend.

There is always a thrill to see a tiger but it does not mean
that you will get a photograph; it is not easy since they are mostly moving
inside the forest and come in the open when crossing a road or drinking water.
Sometimes they rest in the middle of the road.
One of my dream shots is that of a tiger running in the water…it
happened this time but I missed it…upon the advice of the “guide” we left a
tiger that was sleeping near a waterhole.
The expert stated that the tiger will not move for 2-3 hours and we
could get back later…less than five minutes after we left, the tiger took his
run across the water. Never trust the wisdom of an expert. The image below
shows a tiger scenting a tree.

The spotted deer are the most numerous in the park along
with the languor monkeys. As a
consequence one while waits for the appearance of the tiger, one pass the time
photographing whatever comes alone. I caught one standing in two legs reaching
the leaves from a tree (I had seen this behavior among the white-tailed deer
here in Virginia too). It appears that the deer competed by jumping a water
stream, One jumped after the other, some made it to the other side but must
missed and got wet. This was not an isolated
event; it happened at the same time every day I was there. So guess how many
shots of wet spotted deer I have? I will continue this blog as a Part 2 soon.

1 comment:

Ouch! They are rather strict with their rules aren't they? I am glad our parks are not regimented like this else there would be chaotic riots every day outside them. I guess it all centres around money nowadays and not really about the tourists or animals.

I just love the idea of no iPhones! I see what is happening at sightings in our parks and avoid the traffic congestion at all times. They have tried to ban the phones and shortwave radios but to no avail unfortunately. What a pity!!!!!!!!!